By DR. LLOYD T. ANDERSON
doctors to heal, as well as the in sufficiency of his own resources to save the boy. Everything was in vain. I am convinced that this man would never have experienced the power of Christ unless he had first experienced the poverty of his own soul. Remember, the same man who said, " I can do all things through Christ," also affirmed, "I know that in me there dwelleth no good thing." The discipline of the Lord in our lives should teach us the bankruptcy of everything that is human in the work of the King dom of God. Paul rightly avowed, "I want to know Jesus Christ and Him alone. He is to be the basis of my spiritual faith." This certainly is not faith in the abstract. It is liv ing and vital. The Scripture says "he heard." This means he also believed. Ro mans 10:17 confirms this for "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." Knowledge of the Bible is the basis of faith. Although this man believed all the reports about Christ his need was still unmet at that moment. Page 41
In the life of the Apostle Paul we can see a tremendous progression of spiritual growth in grace. He al ways wanted to be stronger today than he was yesterday. He epito mized this truth by declaring that it was his deep-seated spiritual de sire to really know Jesus Christ. We would all agree today that faith in Jesus Christ is absolutely fundamental. This is not only ap plicable to salvation but also to the whole structure of our Christian living: "The just shall live by faith." It is likewise vital to spiritual prog ress. Too often we tackle our own problems almost entirely by per sonal, fleshly efforts. Faith has its component parts and its progres sive steps. In John 4, we have the account of the nobleman who came to Christ to secure healing for his son. In verse 47 we find four particular things he did: he heard, he went, he besought, and he believed. This shows progressive growth. He first heard that Jesus had come to Gal ilee. The illness of his boy had put to test his faith in the ability of
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